Dominique Ansel Bakery

There are also plenty of elaborate lemon and non-lemon confections to admire behind the glittering counter at Dominique Ansel Bakery in Soho, should you not feel like standing in line for your Cronut. After my first unsuccessful Cronut attempt, I enjoyed one of the classic chocolate éclairs, and the next time it was a festive-looking pavlova tinged with litchis. When I finally did get my fat fingers on Ansel’s famous pastry, it was the chocolate-Champagne edition, made, as you may have heard, with the finest Valrhona. Did it live up to the fabulous hype? Sort of, provided you enjoy gouts of custard cream in your doughnuts, which I don’t. Was it worth the hassle? Of course not. So try the weirdly named kouign-amann (“DKA”) instead, which is a kind of popover muffin, made of dense, buttery, caramelized croissantlike dough. They’re sold by the bucket at Ansel’s bakery, you don’t have to wait in line, and unlike the Cronut, it’s impossible to eat just one.